The Downeast coastal communities of Lubec, Milbridge and Eastport have begun Making Headway in Your Community, an effective community engagement program designed to connect communities with existing local, regional, and statewide resources, along with Maine community projects found at makingheadway.me. Making Headway in Your Community provides a spark; a connection to information and inspiration.
In Eastport, where three dozen adults and five children participated, they voted to invest their $1,000 in project funds in the children of the community, planning and adding to the youth activity center, a play area that will appeal to toddlers. In Milbridge, twelve people gathered to discuss ideas and, with keypad polling at the ready, voted to invest in a temporary site for the welcome center with signage, developing and printing a map of historic houses and community highlights. And Lubec, with 40 people participating, will involve local youth this summer in renovations to the Peacock Building in their village center. Several Lubec residents described the evening event by saying, “This was amazing; we’ve never had a meeting bringing people together like this in Lubec.”
Rumford and Wilton, two western Maine towns, are planning these events in the coming months. These five communities were chosen for the 2016 program because of their readiness to engage in a 6-8 month process to focus new energy on what matters most to residents. Learn more.
Making Headway in Your Community is a collaboration of the Maine Downtown Center, a program of the Maine Development Foundation and GrowSmart Maine.
Local and regional partners ensure that everyone in the communities are invited to participate. Partners include Friends of Midcoast Maine, the City of Eastport and Towns of Lubec, Milbridge, Rumford and Wilton, Washington County Council of Governments, Mano en Mano in Milbridge, Lubec Outreach Community Center and Envision Rumford.
Funding is provided by the Elmina B Sewall Foundation and the Maine Community Foundation.